Abstract
The dramatic rise in migration flows to Europe over the last few years has reaffirmed the importance of integrating migrants into European health systems. Most migrants arriving in Europe are healthy. Nevertheless, the conditions and factors surrounding the migration process, such as circumstances before departure, during travel and in reception settings, determine the health vulnerabilities of migrants and the communities with which they interact. Furthermore, despite the right to health being enshrined in numerous international and European legal instruments, access to healthcare for migrants differs according to the national policies of the country to which the person migrates. This chapter provides an overview of the migrant health situation based on field assessments and policy reviews conducted within actions led by the International Organization for Migration in the European Union. The first part of the chapter will focus on the health situation and needs of newly arrived migrants who have made the perilous journey to Europe, while the second part will focus on the entitlements and access to health services for regular migrants, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants.
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Notes
- 1.
Refugees are defined as persons who have been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so (UNHCR 2017).
- 2.
Asylum-seekers are persons whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed (UNHCR 2017).
- 3.
Irregular migration summarises movements that take place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit and receiving countries. In the context of refugee migration it is relevant, because some people may enter or stay in a country without the necessary authorisation or documents required under immigration regulations (IOM 2011).
- 4.
See “What migrants bring” initiative at: http://migrantscontribute.iom.int/.
- 5.
For further information, see: http://equi-health.eea.iom.int/.
- 6.
For further information, see: http://re-health.eea.iom.int/.
- 7.
As part of the immediate action to assist frontline member states which are facing disproportionate migratory pressures at the EU’s external borders, the European Commission proposed developing a new Hotspot approach. In designated areas with massive entry, The European Asylum Support Office (EASO), EU Border Agency (Frontex), EU Police Cooperation Agency (Europol) and EU Judicial Cooperation Agency (Eurojust) will work on the ground with the authorities of the frontline member state to help fulfil its obligations under EU law and swiftly identify, register and fingerprint incoming migrants. The Hotspot approach will also contribute to the implementation of the temporary relocation schemes. For more information, see: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/background-information/docs/2_hotspots_en.pdf.
- 8.
For further information, see: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2016/05/continuum.
- 9.
Further information is available at the Equi Health report on the mechanism of data collection, at: http://equi-health.eea.iom.int/images/Data_collection_report.pdf.
- 10.
The Convention has not been signed by Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Slovenia.
- 11.
To reduce the complexity of the data, this study focuses on rules that apply to migrant workers, which may differ from those of family members, students, beneficiaries of international protection (including refugee status), etc.
- 12.
See list of recommendations on access to health services for migrants in an irregular situation at http://equi-health.eea.iom.int/images/Expert_consensus_Recommendations.pdf.
- 13.
For further information, see: http://re-health.eea.iom.int/electronic-health-database-project.
- 14.
European Parliament, “The public health dimension of the European migrant crisis”, Briefing January 2016.
- 15.
The Re-Health project, co-funded under the amended EU Third Health Programme (2014–2020) by a direct grant agreement awarded to the IOM, was launched in February 2016. This project aims to ensure continuity of healthcare provision, limit the duplication of effort, including the financial implications of repeated medical interventions (e.g. vaccinations, X–rays, etc.) and optimise the efforts to provide proper health services at national and EU levels.
- 16.
For further information, see: http://equi-health.eea.iom.int/index.php/9-uncategorised/336-expert-consensus.
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Beauclercq, I., Viello, F., Petrova-Benedict, R., Val, E. (2019). Overview of Migration and Health in Europe. In: Krämer, A., Fischer, F. (eds) Refugee Migration and Health. Migration, Minorities and Modernity, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03155-8_2
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